woman: unbelievable anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. i'm enjoying my time today here at work at cnn, but it's just not the same without ali velshi, so hurry home. take it away from new york city. >> always a pleasure to see you. i'll be back next week. don lemon, have a great afternoon and weekend. i'm here for the next two hours today and every weekday, i'll guide you through the maize of information coming your way. together, we're going to learn what's going on at home and around the world. the impact beyond today and i'll showcase the best ideas in innovation, fi lan throw pi.

here's what i've got. his country has seen unspeakable tragedy, but the people are recovering. plus, a bloody crime scene, a baffling mystery. police in new york are hunting for suspects in the slaying of the nicaraguan diplomat. and when you hear the words, congressional hearing, your eyes probably glaze over. not this time. steven colbert and the statement he delivered to lawmakers was not the one he actually delivered. first, i'll start with education. a young entrepreneur donates a ton of money to a struggling school district. in the case of mark zuckerberg, a lot of people see his motives

as pr. the announcement coming today on the oprah winfrey show. >> breaking news. why facebook's young ceo says enough is enough and putting his money where his mouth is. >> the big donation, the same day a big movie about zuckerberg and facebook premiers. it's called "the social network." folks who have seen it say it doesn't come off that well. >> millions? >> you stole our website. >> they're saying we stole facebook. >> i know what he said. >> you know what cool? a billion dollars. >> you're going to get left behind. >> sue him in federal court. >> i can't wait to stand over his shoulder and watch you write this check. >> now, regardless of what his

motives are, newark, new jersey can really use the 100 million shot in the arm. newark public schools are in a lot of trouble. it is new jersey's largest school district. over 40,000 students and it was taken over by the state in 1995. the headline of today's newark star ledger says is this really the way to fix newark schools. let's bring in the editor of the editorial page. tom, i'm sorry. thank you for joining us. >> glad to be here. >> first of all, are you -- where do you stand on this issue of whether this is pr or a good thing? >> i don't think anybody in newark cares whether he is or not. this is not only 100 million, it's a challenge grant. we're hoping for 200 million. that will be a big help.

>> the newspaper says, is this really the right thing. what's that to promote? >> most i'm talking to are overjoyed about this. newark at this point, spends a billion dollars a year. this will be over four years. that's $20 million a year on top of a billion. it's not revolutionary in terms of the money. more charter schools. weakening tenure performance. merit pay for good teachers. >> how is this going to work? this is a $100 million transfer, a check? >> just taking shape today. they're having press conferences as we speak to explain the details. it's $100 million in stock that will be dispersed over five years, presumably, $40 million if the challenge l grant is met. the mayor's role in this is not

clear. right now, the state runs those systems. >> where does the governor stand on this because it's the governor and his people who control how this is spent. >> and the governor is going to maintain legal control. what he's saying basically is i'm going to bring booker in and do what he says. but legally, all the power still resides with the governor. some are concerned about this because the way the law works, once control goes back to newark from the state, the people of newark have a referendum and they decide we want mayoral control or an elected school board to control the schools. there's some feeling that this short circuits that process and because someone from outside is putting down a big chunk of money, the voters are getting cut out of the deal. >> tell us about corey booker's role in this because mark zuckerberg's got nothing to do with newark. >> he's a remarkably charismatic

guy. got elected four years ago knocking out james, who went to federal prison. just one re-election, had a few of his people knocked off the city council after the election revealed there's a cut that will force deep cuts. in the first four years, he was not in control of the schools and wanted to be. his focus was on crime. he succeeded there. he says next term, i want to do with schools what i did with crime. >> this is not a no strings attached donation. it's a foundation. i think we'll hear that whoever is in charge of that foundation will retain the authority to not continue to give money over the course of the five years is something isn't working that well. how does it feel that newark may benefit a great deal? it's a good deal of money, no question, but there are strings

attached to a private company? >> awful. especially if the mayor tries to laumpb reforms. i don't see how that can work. i think they'll have to have an answer to that. we're talking about the kind of reforms that are going to really impact people in this city. i talked to the head of the school board. an advisory body now. the middle class in newark was largely created by good jobs in the school system and city government. what the kind of reforms is going to result in is in firing a lot of people. to have someone from outside the city be controlling leverage is not going to go down well. >> a lot of my viewers who may have nothing to do with newark, is this a potential solution. is finding -- do we know if there's any quid pro quo here? >> we don't know yet. our whole staff is digging behind the scenes. >> and have you done any straw

polling of people? >> it's not to that stage. >> you haven't heard a lot of people saying, we don't want the money. >> people have little concerns, but $200 million, thank you very much. >> thank you for joining us. straight ahead. steven colbert tells lawmakers about the day he spent down on the farm. i'm chef michael, and my dog bailey and i love to hang out in the kitchen. you love the aroma of beef tenderloin, don't you? you inspired a very special dog food.

[ female announcer ] chef michael's canine creations. chef inspired. dog desired.

when you think about migrant labor, you naturally think, steven colbert. now, you don't. he appeared before the united

states congress. for real. on the issue of immigrant farm workers. his testimony had its roots in a united farm worker's campaign called take our jobs cht it's aimed at providing employment opportunities to americans while spotlighting the gruelling conditions many farm wokkers face. in july, when he interviewed rodriguez, only three unemployed americans had signed on. colbert became the fourth. he picked beans and corn on a farm in new york. >> sam gave me a bucket to pick some beans. are there any in the shade? do you mind not crowding me? >> on the farm, he met the chairman of the house judiciary committee on refugees and border security and a spectacle was born. i want to read briefly from

colbert's prepared testimony. this is the script he submitted -- pretty straightforward. here's what colbert actually said. >> i am happy to use my celebrity to draw attention to this important, complicated issue and i hope my star power can bump this hearing up to cspan 1. as we've heard this morning, america's farms are too depent on immigrant labor. the obvious answer is for us to stop eating fruits and vegetables and if you look at the recent obesity statics, you'll see that many have already started. unfortunately, my doctor has informed me in no uncertain

terms, that they are a necessary form of roughage. i'd like to submit -- importing foreign workers to do their farm work. after all, it was the ancient isra israelites who built the first food pyramids. but this is america. i want it picked by an american, sliced by a venezuela in a chili. my great grandfather did not travel to see this country overrun by immigrants. >> colbert's staying in character. he knew he'd get flak, so he points out that republican congress's too, have invited big stars to testify. elmo testified in support of music education in 2002. he even bought a suit for the

occasion. have you ever wanted to be a space pilot? how about a fetus healer? we've got the ten best jobs of the future and they are not what you expect.

it is time now for your money. the price of gold peaked at a little over $1300 per ounce. this is actually gold futures. it's the price for that you will take delivery for in december. why? a weak dollar, high unemployment, massive government

debt. people's perceptions all contribute to the price surge. gold is mostly used as a store of wealth. it's not the industry uses of gold with not as important to the price of gold. it is unlikely that gold will skyrocket unless the u.s. dollar would collapse. the all-time high for gold was in january of 1980. that price today would be over $2,000. now for some fun stuff. we're all about the future on this show. "popular science" is out with their top ten jobs of the future. the list is pretty hilarious. first of all, there's space pilot hiring in 2020. with all the commercial space traveling, this field is expected to be a hot one. second, there's what's being called an animal migration engineer. it's in 2030. animals are going to be on the move as their habitats are destroyed, so we'll be looking for people who know where

animals should go and how to get them there. this is a strange one. fetus healer. they'll apparently cure health problems before birth and the hiring is slated to begin in 2020. you'll want to get your training in a fetal treatment center. forecaster of everything. you'll be analyzing data to predict the future. the demand is expected to spike 20% in the next decade. that makes sense, how much data we create every day because of the digital world in which we live. you'll need to get schooled in computer science. and making body organs from scratch. to get a job, you will need to study bioengineering. next, a human robot interaction

specialist. it's a career for people who want to help humans and robots to get along. you'll need to study mit somewhere. that brings us to number seven. it's called world watcher. satellites will be used to check everything out from buried ancient cities to temperature and populations. start with studying archaeology, then earth images. next, galactic architects. you'll need a master's in space architecture, which is offered now at the university of houston. number nine. a job called fusion workers. people will manage fusion reactors. you'll need to study at the u.s. burning plasma summer school. and last on the list, thought

hacker. by 2030, we'll be hiring people to read the thought of others. this past year, lawyers tried to introduce evidence in if form of a scan. you'll need to study neuro or computer science. for a link and more information, and they're not making this up. go to my blog. cnn.com/ali. your money, saturday's at 1:00, sundays at 3:00. some of the stories we're covering right now, president obama won't get his wish of having some tax cuts extended before the midterm elections. a spokesman said democrats would take up the issue after the election. the president wanted to extend the bush era tax cuts for households making under $250 a

year. president obama is calling the speech by ahminedjad inexcusable. several walked out during his speech. among his more inflammatory statements, the assertion that the american government orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. in the midwest, evacuations are being ordered due to severe flooding in some areas. the governors of minnesota and wisconsin have declared states of emergency. people are being told to expect more rain. and the grizzly death of a diplomat in new york is casting a dark cloud over the gathering of the general assembly. we'll give you details on the other side. claritin-d. nothing works stronger, faster or longer for allergy congestion relief without drowsiness. get claritin-d at the pharmacy counter. live claritin clear.

♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪ working to set opportunity in motion. bank of america.

police are now hunting for suspects in the apparent slaying of a nicaraguan diplomat in new york. when his driver came to pick him up thursday, he discovered merkad's body. details keep emerging. susan candiotti has been following the story. >> yes, in fact, police commissioner ray kelly was saying it may have been a murder, however, they are now saying that they have not ruled out a possible suicide being involved here. and this part is new. he's describing wounds not only in his stomach, they were 12 stab wounds in the stomach, but

also, a hesitation wound in the neck. the question is, what is a hesitation wound. it's described as if there's a wound from an assailant, it's more direct. but in this case, it was not in one motion. they were described as not all being cut into his throat frankly at one time. hard thing to discuss, but that's what they're looking at. in addition to that, we're talking about the diplomat, he said that also, human hands were found, human hairs were found in both of his hands. that's something to consider as well. they have not yet determined whose hair that was. autopsy is complete. they're talk k about two knives having been found in the bathroom. a very bloody scene.

both found in the sink. video cameras were in the building, but not working, unfortunately. and they're still trying to determine prints they found in the apartment. whose prints were they, going through that as well. also, there was talk and in fact, cnn producers talked with some people in the building who said they heard some commotion, yelling, banging, in that apartment, but the police commissioner has not determined the credibility. >> lots and lots of information, but it doesn't coless into something that makes sense. >> sure, there is still a lot of angel l sis yet to be done. >> it starts to form a pattern and then police confirm that. this is tricky because there's no information and nothing yet from the consulate or anyone else about any possible motive if it was a murder.

>> that's right. no new information yet from the embas embassy in washington. >> thanks very much. if you get updates, let us know. he helped end the nightmare, the massacre of some 800,000 people. now, he's bringing stability and economic growth, but his critics say he rules with an iron fist. he joins me live after this. but then autoblog.com calls your interior lexus quiet. and automobile magazine goes comparing you to a cadillac. ♪ so much for the new kid fitting in with the rest of the class. the all new chevrolet cruze. starting under $17,000. get used to more. ♪

time for globe trekking. destination, rwanda. it's journey from the depths of mass murder to a country of

economic growth. in 1994, the world looked on in horror or just didn't look at all as the majority hutus massacred the country's ethnic minority. it was sparked when a plane carrying the then president was shot at on the runway. both were killed and some consider mass killing the worth example of genocide since world war ii. it finally came to an end when a rebel group led by paul kagame ousted the government. that triggered the hutus to flee to the republic of congo. rwanda responded by invading refugee camps. a recent report accusing troops of conducting mass killings in congo during that period.

president kagame announced the report as immoral. he was re-elected in august of this year. his supporters credit him with rebuilding the economy and restoring order. the world bank has named rwanda the world's top performer in 2010. he's here to talk to me now. we've spoken many other times not on television and i've always invited him to come by. mr. president, thank you for being with us. you have a country about as far as it could have been about 16 years ago. you stamped out corruption in many cases. but there are still issues about how that gets done. there are critics who say it is not a free and open society in terms of politics and democracy. >> here, we needed to first of all, ask ourselves, who should be making the judgment.

is it just some individuals outside rwanda or where ever they read the books from or is it is rwandans. if you hear from them, they will tell you they are very happy with the process of recovery and given where they have been and where they are today, extremely happy. they have been a part of that process, so i don't think the critics have good grounds in which to stand. >> to the outside world though, right or wrong, democracy is often used as measure of progress. how would you characterize democracy in rwanda today? >> democracy like many other things in rwanda, has seen very vast strides taken. just like economic transformation. and i have this argument that in fact, it is not as social transformation without

corresponding progress in a governments, democracy and rights of people because as the same time, it is the same people part of this process that transforms their lives. so, i don't like the whole idea of first of all of these critics who really don't take time to understand the context and even the processes that i'm talking about. >> let's talk about human rights. this is a country that's been so strife. it's been so stricken with violence between ethnic groups. are we any further toward harmony in rwanda today? >> absolutely. i think it's the wrong charac r characterization to keep fighting with a nation along the division of ethnic, tribal lines. it doesn't make sense. we are rwandans and that is what

we are before divisions and now that's where we are getting to again. the rebirth of our country where rwandans see themselves azar azaria and taking on their possibleties and fuf. >> you talked about progress. i want to take a quick break. when i come back, i want to talk about how you've made progress in rwanda. and you're right in the part of africa. i want to talk to you about some things going on around you. president paul kagame of rwanda joins me on the other side.

this site has a should i try priceline instead? >> no it's a sale. nothing beats a sale! wrong move! you. you can save up to half off that sale when you name your own price on priceline. but this one's a deal...trust me. it's only pretending to be a deal. here, bid $79. got it. wow! you win this time good twin! there's no disguising the real deal. hey what's going on? doing the shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all. if those boxes are under 70 lbs. you don't have to weigh 'em. with these priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. no weigh? nope. no way. yeah. no weigh? sure. no way! uh-uh. no way. yes way, no weigh.

priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

when you think about the economic growth in countries, gdp, the broadest measure of all economic activity in a country. if i tell you there's a country that's going to have 10% gdp, most people tell me the answer to that is china. rwanda. >> yes. >> your economic growth is substantial. >> yes, we've seen average growth, our gdp growth, at 8% in the last ten years. and this year, just 10%. >> off a small base obviouslily, smaller than china, you had about $230 million in direct foreign investment. i was speaking to somebody from the world bank last night who studies africa and said that you've managed to deal with corruption in a way that is otherwise indemic in africa. what have you done? how do you deal with petty

corruption? >> we've been insidious about building stations and also put laws into place to govern our country. these institutions ensure that their laws are respected and everybody's valued. it's their understanding. >> how do you prevent the bribery of custom's officials and police. it's that petty bribery. >> it's understanding how destructive corruption is. making sure there are incentives of towns of responsibleties people have in execution of their daily work and it's also making sure that everybody understands that we are going to be held accountable. >> and you've thrown people in jail. >> the judiciary does that.

all institution is responsibleties to make sure. >> what happened in rwanda was probably one of the worst things humanity has seen in a very long time. africa has remarkable growth. it's a place of opportunity over the next few years and then we see, and you've probably seen this new report that over 300 civilians were raped in the congo this summer. what do we need to know about stability in africa so that this stops happening? rwanda is a great example to use. is stability spreading through africa or do we have to face things like this? >> i think it's spreading in most parts, not in all. you still have pockets. in fact, places where there is -- countries close, the

majority of africa is is seeing this progress in terms of stability and governing. there are many stories out there, but these are the stories also that we need to focus on and work together to try and address that. it all comes down to governing to leadership and making sure we understand what needs to be done and our responsible -- unfortunately, we don't find this everywhere. >> when do you think rwanda is going to be ready for full, conless democracy? >> it's a difficult question. one needs to look at history of the countries that have stability and full blown

democracy. they have probably taken not decades, but hundreds of years to do that. it will be, i think, unfair to just think that you would be there, but you need to be on the move, on the journey to being there. that's where rwanda is. if you look at what you have achieved in the last 16 years, there is no doubt we should be there sooner than later. >> president kagame, good to see you again. snails in the kitchen. a delicacy in france. they may be the hot new thing. ? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it.

working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual. let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. [ female announcer ] it starts with you falling in love with the most personalized most customized piece of furniture you will ever own. ♪ get that one piece right and the rest of the room will just fall into place. it starts with you introducing yourself to the world of ethan allen.

see your ethan allen design center today for two beautiful ways to save.

time for the "big i" and this one is a winner. the jury has spoken in this year's contest. the eighth annual global search for the household appliances of the future. last month, we brought you the finalist. now, meet the concept that left all the others in the dust. it is something called the snail. it atataches to a pot or mug an

heats the contents with magnetic induction. you don't plug it in. it's powered by the high density, sugar crystal battery. the energy comes from sugar. it's the brain child of peter allwin. his prize, 5,000 euros, about $6700 along with the six-month paid internship at a design center. i like this one. you may remember instead of cooling your food in a box, you shove it into this panel of green goo. like the one in front of you. it kind of molds around it and cools it or whatever. in third place, elements modular kitchen. essentially a wall mounted appliance that cooks and chills your food while lighting and air-conditioning the room. for more information on this, head to my blog. voters are ready to send the

message, send some message in the midterms. your cnnpolitics.com update is next. i want to give my 5 employees health insurance, but i just can't afford it. i have diabetes. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance. when i graduated from college, i lost my health insurance. the minute i got sick, i lost my insurance. not anymore. not anymore. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to find out how it can help you, visit us at americasfairhealthcare.org it's not just fair, it's the law.

just in to cnn. we are hearing of a possible compromise involving middle east peace talks and the thorny issue of israeli settlement building. jill daugherty is in washington. >> this moritorium on settlements is expiring.

how do you bring them together without having either side look as if it's caving. the diplomatic sources say that this is how it could work. the idea would be you would let that moritorium expire. but, the settlers, the israel settler, what would want to do any type of construction would have to get a license. they'd have to apply for a license. that would buy some time. and then, now, what would the palestinians do? they would have to pledge they wouldn't use the issue of construction as an excuse or threat to walk away from the talks. now, there's no guarantee this will work, but that would be the idea and we understand that benjamin netanyahu isn't opposed to extending that delay, but only again, if the palestinians were and abbas were to stay at

the table. >> okay, so the moritorium, bottom line, moritorium could be lifted, but building may not actually take place. that's the -- that's how their palestinians? >> reporter: exactly. in other words, it kind of slips by. sunday comes -- the deadline by the way is sunday. sunday comes. the moratorium is lifted. but in effect, it continues because those settlers would have to get approval. they'd have to get the approval to do any type of construction. and that would slow things down, buying some time. >> okay. very interesting. i mean, there are a lot of naysayers about this new round of negotiations. this is the sort of third thing in the rode -- third roadblock they had and seem to be working through it. one can only hope. thanks for the update. if you get any more let us know. time for a "cnn equals politics update." right now cnn senior political expert at the politics desk. who is this guy in front of you?

>> get to him in a second. i have jill right here and francis to my right and alex mooney in front of me. let's talk about some poll numbers that democrats aren't very happy about, ali. first of all, we talked last hour about how republicans have a nine-point lead on the generic ballot. 53% to 44%. the gop the lead over democrats 39 days before the election day. but are they pro-republican voters? let's look at the next numbers. support for republicans, 44%. opposition to democrats, 49%. so what we're seeing here is an angry electorate, an anti-democratic electorate and anti-incompetent couple bent electorate. that's what democrats are swimming up against as we head into november. let's talk more about the midterm elections. republicans think that they can take up the seat that was once held by senator robert byrd. of course senator byrd passed away earlier this year. a place holder has that seat now

and a very popular governor is running for that seat. however, the national republican senatorial committee is spending $1.2 million over the next two weeks to try to beat up manchin and compare him to president obama. president obama doesn't have a great favorability rating in west virginia. in fact, in the 2008 election, john mccain won that state. alex mooney is going to have a story for us in the next hour about meg whitman. we'll get back to that with alex next hour. but let's talk about this story. chris christie, the new jersey governor, ali, came out of nowhere. showed that chivalry is still alive in politics. certainly in new jersey, meg whitman who is running for governor in california was heckled at an event chris christie was at with her. he stood up and stared down the heckler. i tell you what, if i am in a bar room fight while i think i'd like to have you by my side, i

want chris christie to have my back. >> have you forgotten about the bar room fights we've been in in our cross country journeys on the cnn election express? i saved you many times. >> what stays on road. please keep it on the road. >> you were promoting alex mooney because he's going to have something later on? >> he'll have something at 2:45 about meg whitman, something she's not necessarily going to be happy about. >> all right, very good. we look forward to seeing you both. thanks very much. stay with cnn for complete coverage of the key races and key issues heading into the critical midterm election. your next update is just an hour away. music's drive-by. one auto engineer has an idea on a play list that puts your car stereo to the test. to be outside.lows me [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ]

with a new line of fresh recipes. like chicken teriyaki with water chestnuts. it steams to perfection in minutes, giving the fresh flavors and textures of a homemade meal. marie's new steamed meals. it's time to savor. the more you spend, the bigger the bonus, up to $250 to use on your next purchase. start earning with as little as $75 spent, including great sale prices. hurry, sears bonus days are on! sears.

it's work through the grime and the muck, month. tow and pull without getting stuck month. sweat every day to make an honest buck...month. and if you're gonna try and do this in anything other than a chevy... well, good luck...month. great deals on the complete family of chevy trucks all backed for a hundred thousand miles. it's truck month. now buy this 2011 all-star edition silverado and combine the option package discount with other offers for a total value of five thousand dollars. see your local chevrolet dealer. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke.

i don't know about you, but for me, the most important feature of my car is the stereo, whether it's talk, rock or something in between. i'm a big radio-listening guy. when you think about buying something new take the tunes into account. matt kirsch is here from gm and put out a list of top tunes to test drive your radio. at number four is the eagles '"hotel california." opening guitar solo, powerful drums are the key. alicia keys "no one." and "diamonds and rust" by joan baez and check out the instrumental interludes on that one. the number one testing tune "don't know why" by norah jones. matt kirsch says you should hear her natural voice hitting you in the face.

find the complete ten at cnn.com. if you know me you know not only do i love the stereo. i love good food. i actually just love food. imagine my excitement when i saw the new addition to the menu at the fair in west spri >> i walked in. i saw fried jelly beans? never heard of it before. said let's give it a try and they're amazing. >> there you're looking at it. the butter and the jelly -- look at this thing. the butter and the jelly beans are wrapped in dough and deep fried. throw on powdered sugar and you have an award winner or artery clogger. in st. joseph county, michigan they use cinnamon sugar. in san diego county, other fried food, it is fried white castle burger, fried avocados and a zucchini weenie, which is a hot dog toughed inside a zucchini

and deep fried. but the texas state fair takes the cake and the fries probably fried as well. they have all the standards but for a nice dinner start with the deep fried club salad, then a fried frito pie and wash it down with a beer which, by the way, is also deep fried. that's not your drink of choice, they also offer a fried margari margarita. i used to think was fascinating until i realized all you have to do is put it in batter or dough and fry it. brand new rundown. they were pitted against each other in blood matches but michael vick's dogs aren't being put down. believe it or not, they're being saved, rehabilitated and sent to loving owners. it is an amazing story of rescue and redemption. plus, for a lot of kids it might be their only meal of the day so it better be healthy. a new push to make school lunches better. sanjay gupta digs in. and i have the honor of profiling our top ten cnn heroes of the year. we revealed them yesterday on

our show. today you will meet susan burton, a former drug addict and prisoner. she saved her own life and now she's saving others. but first a young entrepreneur donates a ton of money to a struggling school district. on the face pure philanthropy but in the case of mark zuckerberg a lot of folks see public relations. injecting zol 100 million into newark, new jersey's public schools, the announcement today on the oprah winfrey show. >> breaking news. why facebook's young ceo mark zuckerberg says enough is enough and putting his money where his mouth is. >> okay. now, here's the thing. this big donation comes the same day a big movie about zuckerberg premieres. it will be out in theaters next week called "the social network." you've probably seen trailers. folks who see it says mark zuckerberg doesn't come all that well in it. >> potentially worth millions of dollars. >> millions. >> you stole our website. >> they're saying we stole the

facebook -- >> so did we? >> a billion. >> you're going to get left behind. >> sue him in federal court. >> i can't wait to stand over your shoulder and let you write us a check. >> if you're the inventors of facebook -- >> is there anything you need to tell me? >> some say why are we worried about his motives? regardless of his motives newark's embattled school system does need the help. it's new jersey's largest and has more than 40,000 enrolled. it was taken over by the state in 1995 because of waste and mismanagement. not everybody is sold on this new windfall. the headline on the star ledger newspaper in new york says is this really the way to fix newark schools? i don't know if that's the intontion they used but i'll find out. that first paragraph is a killer. oh, good now we're solving intractable urban school

problems by relying on a 26-year-old about theaire geek from california and oprah winfrey, end quote. tom moran, the editorial editor at "the ledger" to talk about competing issues out there. good to talk to you. in newark, a city with the -- all the urban problems that urban cities have, are there a whole lot of people looking this gift horse in the mouth? >> no, there are not. there are concerns attached but everybody says this is fantastic. there was one opinion writer. there's a whole course of it and different takes on it. >> i almost feel like a self respecting newspaper organization or newspaper has to put that out there, that there is something to be said about a society when we depend on individual donations to fix the public school system. >> especially what zuckerberg is saying if i don't like what's happening in newark i'm going to pull the plug. putting it out you're by year. people in newark are grateful

and it will help but you have to raise that issue. >> there's always strings to money but strings in a public school system to private money, this isn't even a public company. that probably has people wondering. tell me a bit about for people that don't know what's up with newark? what's the situation as it pertains to public education? >> they're struggling. they've slightly improved since the state took over and the supreme court has forced the state to invest huge sums there. the total budget is a billion dollars. when you put $100 million over five years in that perspective it may not have a giant impack, helpful as it is. the improvements have been too slow by all accounts. democrats and republicans. why you see a democratic mayor and republican governor saying we need to revamp. they want things like charter schools, teacher accountability, fire the bad teachers, reward the good teachers. evaluate teachers based on student performance. you don't have that now. you have union protections that prevent most of that. so they're going to bang their head against that wall and the

money should help. what exactly they're going to do with the money we just had a press conference that said we're not going to decide that. we're going to ask the people of newark. >> but for now are taking the money? >> oh, yeah. >> as mentioned, the school board or the schools are run by the state. explain that toe. >> in the '90s the newark schools were so corrupt and ineffective that the state came in and took over. what that means basically -- it's not as though the state hired every teacher. they appoint the superintendent and oversee the books. it's been only modestly successful. it's been -- i think most people considered it a disappointment. now there's an effort to turn it back to these cities. >> the question is whether it goes to the mayor's control as you said in some cities or -- >> the law says the people of these cities. in other words newark voters should decide whether he we get control invest the power in the mayor or elected school board. now this money is coming -- the main string is that zuckerberg was so impressed with corrie

booker who he met at a conference in july. he said if you're behind the reforms that i want to see i'll give you the money. he just repeated that. he has a lot of faith in booker and christie. >> who is cory booker? a lot of people know him and a lot don't. this is charismatic mayor of newark, young guy. some think he can go further in america. >> i think everyone does. he's a remarkable talent. knocked out the machine four years ago run by former mayor sharpe james that everyone thought was in vincen. he beat that machine and sharpe james went to jail. he's made a lot of progress in newark on crime. he appointed a cracker jack police director gary mccarthy part of the giuliani team, their success in new york. they've cut gun violence in half. this summer has been particularly bloody but up until then they cut it in half. booker is saying i want to do with the schools what i did with crime the first term. just reelected to a second term in may. >> but with a smaller majority.

>> he's having political trouble these days. the shine is off his star. he won by a much smaller march inagainst a very weak candidate just charged yesterday with fraud and probably on his way to jail. but he lost a kumt of seats on the city council. after the election he revealed that the city's budget was a complete mess. we're facing deep cuts in newark now, layoffs of police, fire. the schools are facing their own series of layoffs. so it's a definite bump in the road. >> you can see the ha traction. he's a young guy. mark zuckerberg is a young guy. young up and comer. he can have an impact -- never mind personally. professionally you don't seem to care whether it's a pr move on zuckerberg's part. >> i don't think anybody in newark does. >> tom moran the editorial page editor at "the star-ledger." one of the most important meals of the day and for too many kids it is their only meal. dr. sanjay gupta tells us about

a new battle plan for school lunches in choctaw. ♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪ working to set opportunity in motion. bank of america. myi'm a mortgage banker. at quicken loans. working to set opportunity in motion. mike and michiyo were looking to purchase a larger home to accommodate their family. matt was a star from start to end. he took care of us. he'll take care of you. we always like to follow up with clients and make sure that they know we're tracking their loan for them, and if there's something that makes more sense for them, we can present that as an option. the surprise was that there were no surprises. they have great technology, but they have people like matt. that's what makes the difference. it's an opportunity to help clients achieve the american dream. that's why i love quicken loans! ♪

we need directions to go to... pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! onstar ready. call home. hi, daddy! i'm on my way. send to car and...done! you have one saved destination: dillon beach. would you like those directions now? yes, i would. go north on route 1. check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. looks like our check engine light's on. can you do a diagnostic check for us? everything's fine. oh, but you've got a loose gas cap. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on.

in today's talk we're looking at what's in your kid's school lunch. first lady michelle obama made her her mission to knock out childhood obesity. chief medical correspondent my friend sanjay gupta has more on what is at stake here. >> reporter: well, ali, as people heard about school lunches again, i'm sure there's a lot of people whose eyes out there are sort of glazing over but this is a pretty important

topic. there is the childhood nutrition act they're trying to get passed next week and a lot of people are weighing in including military leaders. more than 100 retired generals and admirals writing letters specifically saying they want this act passed as well. why is the military getting so involved, people ask? well, it's because of this stat. more than a quarter they say of young adults are unfit to serve. they say 27% are simply too overweight to serve in the military right now. and that's a number that may shock a lot of people. and when they really try and dissect down what is the problem here, obviously there's lots of different reasons. but school lunches appear to be a big one. about 40% of a child's calories come from school lunches and a lot of those calories are out of the control of the parents, as i'm slowly finding out. here's the thing. you have a certain expectation i believe when it comes to school lunches. you think that the food is going to behealthy. sometimes that's true but not always. what they found interestingly

enough about two-thirds of the time, 67% of the time they exceeded dietary guidelines for fat intake and three quarters exceeded saturated fats. it's not always what you expect. therein lies the problem. they want to get the nutrition act passed to try and reduce the bad food that's coming to children on any typical day. you may ask, as a lot of people do, what is a typical school lunch. take a look at this. they get a choice of entrees typically such as a hamburger, queso quesadilla with salsa, chicken corn dog and three side choices as well -- french fries, cole slau, mandarin oranges, dessert banana pudding. what are the kids going to eat? the healthy stuff, make the good choices or not? what they find more often than not they aren't eating healthy choices. that's why so many are focussed on this nutrition act to improve

what kids get in school. stay tuned but the military weighing in on school lunches. ali, back to you. >> thanks, sanjay. but if i'm a kid and there's corn dogs on the menu -- on a healthy menu. i don't understand that. i'd go for that. next week special coverage on eatocracy. we'll look at where our food comes from and recently problems with salmonella and recalls. learn ways to keep food safe all next week only on cnn. i'm going to be here reporting on food. i feel like i shouldn't get paid for doing that. i should give my salary back. she emerged from a life filled with addiction and prison time and then reached out to help others put their own lives back together. we will meet the first of our cnn top ten heroes and hear her remarkable story. host: coulswinto geico really save you 15% or more on car insuranc

did the little piggy cry w wee all the wahome? piggy: weeeeeee, weeeeeee, weeeeeee, weeeee weeeeeeee. mom: pix. ...maxwell! mom: you're home. piy:h,ol, anks mrs. a. anncr: geico. minutes could save you 15% or more.

can you believe! this is the fourth year already of our cnn "heroes" initiative and once again you guys all came through. we have got 10,000 nominations from cnn viewers in more than 100 countries telling us who your heroes are. each week we've introduced you to one of these extraordinary people. yesterday we revealed the top ten cnn "heroes" of 2010 as selected by our blue ribbon panel. each honoree will get $25,000 and a shot at the top honor. cnn's hero of the year. which, again, you get to decide on. today we meet the first of our top ten heroes. after her 5-year-old son was hit and killed by a car in 1981, susan burton's grief spiraled into more than a decade of

addiction and prison time. when she ultimately got clean, she realized that she wanted to help other women offenders stay out of prison. she saved up enough money to buy a house in the watts section of los angeles, put in some bunk beds and in 1998 a new way of life re-entry program was born. since then she helped more than 400 women make the transition from prison life and joins me now from los angeles. susan, good to talk to you. thank you so much and congratulations on being named a top ten hero of the year. >> thank you. and thank you for having me here today. >> susan, tell me about what you were able to do, what you were able to learn from your experience that you can actually transfer and help -- use to help other people because i imagine women who are coming out of prison are varied. they have varied reasons for how they got in there in the first place and varying needs when they come out. tell me what you've learned and how you put it to work. >> i learned that there were so

many women being incarcerated, n not given any other option to sort of get their lives on track, no options to address some of the hardships and difficulties they were experiencing. i learned that there is another way to support people to develop -- take a part, a positive part in the community. you know, i learned that prison doesn't work. >> so what do these women come out with that you can give them? is it work skills? is it confidence? is it resumes? is it just a place to live? what is they most need that you can help them to get a leg up in life? >> first of all, they need a place to live. they need support. they inspiration. they need training, direction. they need to build their own self confidence. they need patience and

compassion. and we try to wrap all of those things around each resident as they come home. you know, they need to get an i.d., a california i.d. card. they need to get a social security card in order just to do a simple thing like apply for a job, in order to meet any requirements. we take so for granted that -- we walk around with our i.d. cards. we walk around with our social security cards. we know the community. we know the routes. and everybody has to learn that sort of all over again. and then most of all they have to learn what their life's mission is. so we sort of support them to begin to develop and look at why they're here in the world and what they can contribute and what role they can play in making the community safer and better for everyone. >> susan, let me ask you.

if you -- just give me an example of the range or conti e continu continuum. on one side there will be woman like you achieving their best but meeting with success in life. on the other side the spectrum there will be women who will go back to prison. what are the biggest obstacles to coming out on this side, the successful side, and those who end up going back to prison? what is this they were not able to overcome and you were not able to help them overcome? >> one of the biggest obstacles for people exiting the prison system is to find an environment, a safe environment that would actually support their re-entry needs and also to help them to heal from their life experience and the prison experience. so there are those people that get off a bus downtown skid row with no resources, no place to go, no i.d., just being sort of

like ejected back into the community. and then there are those who have the support of a community-based organization like a new way of life or possibly their families. many of the people who go to prison are poor people. and their families are poor. and sometimes the family environment to go back to is not the quite right environment. so that's the two scenarios you have. and on any given day, you can go downtown los angeles to the bus station and watch people exiting that bus coming from all of the prisons in the -- california and sort of see -- i mean, they have some joy, but there's also some anxiety about what they're going to do, how they're going to make it in the world.

and, you know -- >> that's what you helped them with. >> i beg your pardon? >> i was going to say that's what you helped them with. you helped them deal with that. >> that's what i helped them with. and i started a new way of life in my own home. now there are five homes. we've grown quite a bit. and they are women. they are women with their children. and i watch just simple community-based compassion and resources rebuild a person's entire direction in life. >> yeah. >> versus, you know, the incarceration, which is really expensive, taking money away from our educational systems and our social service systems. and just does not provide what's needed for people to be whole and healthy. >> susan, thank you so much for

talking to us. thank you and congratulations for being nominated. it's a pleasure speaking to you and we hope you continue to help people and that this nomination helps you. susan burton joining us today. she's one of our top ten heroes. the top ten heroes will be honored on thanksgiving night at our fourth annual heroes celebration. you can watch that. it's an all-star tribute. only one will be named cnn hero of the year and awarded an additional $100,000. as always you decide who it will be. the voting site is live. head over to cnn heroes.com. we have the top ten there and you can click on them to refresh your memory on who everybody is and the incredible things they are doing. once set, hit the vote now button and choose the person who inspires you most. we're going to take a break.

♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

it is friday, so we're going to have some fun. ever wonder what your favorite cold beverage looks like under a microscope? i don't. but that's why we have chad. he has a more curious mind than i do. i just drink it. but tell me. apparently it's pretty amazing. >> we're going "off the radar" in a minute. they crystallized your favorite or maybe not favorite drink and put it under a microscope to see what it looks like. >> first the opposite of a microscope and take a nice big look at the weather. >> would that be macroscope.

>> macroscope. >> we'll widen it up. >> chad, just hold on a second. here's the bottom line. what you can't see over here is when i came to you i was eating a cookie. so i have cookie in my mouth. all i needed was you to run with this while i eat my cookie but i've had to sit here and talk to you while i try to eat a cookie. why don't you -- thank you. >> see you in a minute. minneapolis back toward rochester, all these green counties flood warnings. here are some pictures minneapolis south of there. but anyway you get the idea. they had eight to ten inches of rainfall. play that tape. you'll see it. the water all around these houses. there is sandbags with plastic all over the houses. for a while i saw them. this is how you keep the water away from your house. sandbag it and then stand behind it and bail it out with garbage cans. not the safest way obviously. easier to do it with pumps but irregardless stay safe. a lot of water coming down

across minnesota, wisconsin and also into michigan for today. more water coming down from tropical storm matthew. this is a big deal for honduras and nicaragua. it may be a big deal for the u.s. coming up later in next week like thursday, maybe friday. the problem is it goes from here to here, which is only about 500 miles in five days. you get a thunderstorm especially a thunderstorm that doesn't move anywhere for five days, you're going to make flooding. this is a rough territory, too, talking about topography. it could be flooding with all those mud slides possible too. ali, you done with that cookie yet? >> i'm done with the cookie. i'm totally into finding out what my favorite beverage looks like under the microscope. first of all "off the radar." >> we are going to go fast. i have a bunch of them. i have like 15 things to show you. you take your favorite beverage. you dry it out and make crystals, put it under a microscope and see what it looks like. first one, a cosmopolitan. how about that.

pretty cool. that's what it looks like after you dry it out. how about crown royal. kind of something the wintertime drink there. that's kind of fun looking. then a bloody mary. good? good. >> not what i expected. >> no. then gin and tonic. i can't tell which is the gin and which is the tonic. this isn't necessarily -- didn't turn red but when you shine lights on the crystals a lot like your diamond ring isn't red either but if a light goes in it it can come out a different color. mint julip. this is an art form. they want you to understand this is an art form and also get interested in some science. pina colada. scotch. a white russian which is really cream. i expected that to not look so cool. that looks amazing. budweiser. >> let's see some beer. >> we will go to nonalcoholic drinks, i promise. corona. not sure how it's different but

it certainly is. blue instead of red. and then an amstele lite. if you've never been to like aruba, go get the remember, not the light. then a strawberry slurpee. you get crystals just the same whether alcoholic or not. then 7-up you would think is clear. no. bright blue, beautiful. coke expect it to be brown but when you reflect light off the crystals all kinds of colors. >> this to be clear, this is art. >> making it as art. making it as art and showing that science and crystals are very cool. my son loves to grow rock candy even though i don't let him eat it when it's done. he loves to watch it grow on little strings like that. science for kids finally. here we go. >> excellent, chad. >> have a good weekend. >> i'll talk to you in atlanta next week. >> oh, good. welcome back. get back here. >> thank you.

changing tracks here, what did the pope know before he was the pope about the sexual abuse of children by catholic priests and what did he do about it if anything? a preview of a cnn investigation when we come back. ♪ [ female announcer ] yoplait's real fruit and the goodness of dairy gives you a little slice of happy. and happiness comes in 25 delicious flavors. yoplait. it is so good.

this weekend cnn airs a remarkable documentary titled "what the pope knew." before he was pope benedict, he was cardinal ratsinger, one of the most powerful men in the vatican. it's recently come to light as head of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith cardinal ratzinger had responsible for decisions in some notorious sex

abuse cases. gary tuchman examines his handling of one case from the heartland of the united states. >> reporter: he drove 90 minutes north of his diocese office to lincoln. he came here to visit one of his priests, a priest who was living here in a prison. in 1985, father alvin campbell pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault on boys as young as 11 years old. he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. matt mccormick was one of the children campbell abused. >> i don't come by this school and i don't come by the church. >> reporter: starting in seventh grade, campbell molested mccormick in the church's school, the wrerectory and even here. this is the confessional you were in? >> this is the confessional.

>> reporter: campbell was sent to prison, but he was still a priest. that's why bishop ryan had come to visit him, to try to convince him to voluntarily leave the priesthood. campbell refused. so ryan turned to rome for help. he sent copies of campbell's indictments, spelling out in graphic detail what campbell had done to his victims and asked joseph ratzinger to defrock him. ratzinger's answer, no. the petition in question cannot be admitted inasmuch as it lacks the request of father campbell itself which is called for by the current norms. incredibly, what cardinal ratzinger was saying was he could not agree to defrock a priest, even a convicted child molester, without that priest's permission. monsignor charles chacuna, the vatican prosecutor worked for years. when he sat with me at the

vatican it was his first ever television interview on the pope's record. do you see how it sounds ridiculous under the canon law unless he requests it we can't defrock him? >> it would sound ridiculous if you forget the next paragraph that says there is a way of reducing him to the lay state and it is by church trial. >> reporter: ratzinger's letter says the bishop can avoid responsibility for keeping campbell by putting him through a church trial but again that would take years and campbell had already been convicted in a criminal trial. he admits the process needed changing. >> i think these cases certainly cardinal ratzinger, his deliberate dla collaborators thought something needed to be done. something has been done. canon law has a different scenario. this thing would not happen under today's canon law. that is also the merit of cardinal ratzinger who is pope benedict xvi today.

>> reporter: campbell would finally be defrocked three years later, after he eventually agreed to request it himself. after bouts with depression, alcohol and drugs, mccormick today is happily married with a daughter. >> want to give momma a kiss? >> reporter: and a wife who gave up on the church. >> we've both converted to lutheranism because of this. i don't -- i personally -- i don't have faith in the catholic church whatsoever at all. >> gary tuchman joins me here in new york. gary, the gentleman you spoke to said today canon law has a different scenario. >> right. >> does that mean that a priest is defrocked if he's convicted of this kind of a crime? >> the mog significant nor who talked to us at the vatican is the prosecutor and basically they are defrocking priests now who molest children. what's interesting, though, is you wonder why wouldn't they have done that in the 1980s.

that's what cardinal ratzinger is being blamed for. what's being told to us is things were different back then. but what critics and detraekt you tractors say is the church was more interested in protecting the reputation of the institution than the children of the institution. they're saying things were different. we know it wasn't handled well and things have changed. there are still problems now. certainly not as bad as in the 1980s. >> why are we doing this story now? >> the reason we're doing the story now is because we have obtained documents from the vatican that were kept secret, literally in a safe in the vatican for 30 years. they were subpoenaed. we have our hands on them and they show cardinal ratzinger's signature on letters responding to bishops in the united states writing to him saying, please, we have a bishop in our diocese in oakland, in milwaukee, in springfield, illinois, who is a molester. we want him officially removed. the letters from cardinal ratzinger either slowed it down or opposed it and sometimes took years to get rid of priests who in some cases were in jail for

molesting children. >> it will be on tv this weekend. joining me now in new york. it's the sex abuse scandal that rocked the church as cardinal and vatican official. what did the pope know and when. two chances to watch this cnn investigation saturday and sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. they were brutally trained to fight and kill. the story of how a few people came together to save and rehabilitate the dogs of nfl quarterback michael vick is both remarkable and harm warming coming up next.

i'm a home in a high-risk flood area. it doesn't look risky.

i mean, phil, does this look risky to you? nancy? fred? no. well it is. in a high-risk area, there's a 1-in-4 chance homes like us will flood. i'm glad i got flood insurance. fred, you should look into it. i'm a risk-taker. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. visit floodsmart.gov/risk to learn your risk. let me bring you upto speed with the top stories we're following at cnn. comedy central meets c-span.

stephen colbert testified before a house judiciary subcommittee about a day he spent picking beans on a farm in upstate new york. the issues are serious. illegal immigration and chronic rampant unemployment. colbert says he hopes his experience would, quote, bump this hearing all the way up to c-span 1. some lawmakers were not amused. the 20-something billionaire who founded facebook giving some of his money to newark public schools. when you're a billionaire, some can mean a lot. i'm talking $100 million. it's the first check written by a new foundation called start-up education finance by mark zuckerberg. still in new york with the u.n. general assembly, president obama turns his sights to sudan. next hour focused on a countrywide vote whether the oil rich autonomous south should break from the north. part of a 2005 agreement ending two decades of war. some feel war is destined to return. a case of stunned and

outraged dog lovers the world around, star nfl quarterback michael vick busted for running a brutal dogfighting ring on his virginia farm. you may recall vick and three others were arrested aern charged with running a dogfighting ring in july of 2007. officials seized 51 pit bulls from vick's bad news kennels in virginia. vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison. he served 18. at the time vick was suspended by the nfrl but eventually reinstated and signed by the philadelphia eagles where he was recently named the starting quarterback for this season. qula about those 51 pit bulls trained to fight and kill? you would think there would be no choice but to put them down and that's the real and remarkable news about this story. those dogs have been rescued and rehabilitated. with me is the senior editor for sports i will tr "sports illustrated." he wrote "the lost dogs" based

on articles he wrote for "sports illustrated." joining us from california, a certified pet dog trainer and the president and founder of our pap. adog rescue training and education organization. with her, we can hardly see him, is one of michael vick's former dogs now living a happy, new life under the name of leo. hi, leo. leo is looking around, wondering where that voice is coming from. >> there we go. leo is paying attention now. we'll get to you in a second. i want to start with you, jim. you started covering this. you were writing these stories. this is fascinating. a lot of people i've told about this story say they couldn't have imagined that pit bulls who were actually trained, fighting dogs could be rehabilitated. >> yes. a lot of surprises in the whole story and it starts out with the idea that people asking the question what was possible. there was a huge public outcry and people wanted to do something for these dogs. traditionally they would be putt down but in this case

individually evaluated them hoping to find a few they could save and saved 47. it's been a great story so far. >> i want to ask you about this. you are dealing with a dog. you've got one right there. that has been trained to fight and kill -- looks like the cutest thing in the entire world right now. how do you determine that you can make that dog into a safe dog for somebody? and is that safe for anybody or is it safe for somebody like you who has an advanced understanding of dog behavior? >> well, i felt that he was safe from the beginning and i really do feel that he was safe for anybody. i also felt that he was therapy dog material right off the start. really all he needed was training for manners. you can see he's very loving. he just needed to learn not to jump on people and good intentions but jumping up to get affection and he's a happy-go-lucky guy and just needed to learn how to sit and be -- have good manners.

>> okay. what part of this dog -- what happens to the training that this dog -- buy the way, he jumps around because his name back then was bouncer because he jumped around so much. i mean, obviously, this dog was taught to do -- to fight with other dogs. does leo just forget all that? >> well, we don't know that he was taught that. i don't -- i actually doesn't know what his history was. i just basically look at the dog as they are right now and who are they are at this moment. and basically train them from there. and i didn't see that in him. leo doesn't want to fight. he lives with three other pit bulls. he plays with my dogs. he also lives with a chihuahua and he puts up with her. so i don't know that his past was exactly that. >> right. >> i know that he was totally cut out for therapy work. >> jim, clearly there were some

dogs on that -- that property that were fighting. >> that's right. out of the 51 that they took off the property, when they did the evaluation, they determined there were 10 or 12 that were sort of hardened fighters. they were dogs that just had an issue with aggression toward other dogs. no real incidents with people. the other 40-something dogs, most of their problem was fear. they never experienced the world and what they had experienced was bad. so any new situation or new person they were afraid of. for most of the dogs that came off the property, fear was the biggest issue. >> how big a deal is dogfighting? >> it's bigger than you think it is is what we're learning. humane society estimates 40,000 dogfighters. it cuts across demographic categories. it's rural and urban, interracial and sort of -- more widespread than you think it is. >> marthina, why do pit bulls have a bad reputation generally? >> i think it's a multipronged problem. i think that there's definitely some overreporting in the media.

i think that we have people who get dogs and don't socialize. they don't train them. they don't manage them well. and of course as a trainer, i know there was a two-week period where we did have an issue with a pit bull that was reported in the paper. and during that same time frame, there was a german shepherd and golden retriever both attacked two different people very serl requiring hospitalization and there was not one report about that. i didn't see one item in the paper, whereas the pit bull attack was everywhere. i couldn't turn on the tv without seeing it. it was in all the papers. so that's part of it. and certainly when you do get a popular dog that people want to get and they don't realize that you really do have to work to raise animals. >> all right. well, good talking to you, marthina. thank you so much.

good-bye, leo. is he getting up to say good-bye? >> he says good-bye. >> all right. thank you. and, jim, thank you very much, the the author of "the lost dogs." senior editor at "sports illustrated." for more information hae to my blog cnn.com/ali. an apology for the people of fresno. your cnnpolitics.com update is next. today just seemed like a great day to save. oh, it's not just today. with our free loyalty program, you earn great stuff like accident forgiveness and bigger discounts just by staying with us. oh! ooh! so, what you're saying is, it gets even better with age. oh! tell me we're still talking about insurance. rewarding loyalty. now, that's progressive. call or click today. that's why there's lubriderm® daily moisture. it contains the same nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. skin absorbs it better and it lasts for 24 hours.

later gator. lubriderm. your moisture matched. ♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪ working to set opportunity in motion. bank of america.

time now for a cnn equals politics update. senator political editor mark preston at the cnn.com desk in washington. what have you got? >> we talked about the pledge to america yesterday. this is the campaign pledge, the governing dob umt that house republicans revealed yesterday. this just in like literally got into my e-mail box. you'll hear it first here on cnn. the democratic national committee has put out this 40-second web video which has become a very tried and true practice nowadays in politics. they are hitting back against this pledge to america that the gop released yesterday. they're criticizing them specifically about a house vote yesterday on a small business lending bill that house

republicans voted against. so we'll have that up on the ticker very shortly. again, this just in. i told you last hour that alex mooney here had a story about meg whitman and told you he would tell you about it. but clearly he seems a little busy talking on the phone so i'll let you know what this story is about. meg whitman has had a little faux pas earlier this week where she compared fresno to detroit. she said that it was awful. in fact, she had to backtrack from those comments yesterday. she went on the airwaves in fresno and said, look, the central valley has been hit very hard much like detroit. not a good thing to say when you're 39 days to leks day. one of your friends from atlanta, steve. it's going to be a very busy political weekend and steve brusque has the top three things we think will break news. >> mitt romney up to new hampshire doing the key note for the big republican event up there. mike huckabee campaigning this weekend in kentucky going for rand paul in the tight senate race down there and bill clinton

going to get some help in the northeast for barney frank in the surprisingly tight house race in massachusetts and richard blumenthal in trouble in connecticut. >> two potential presidential candidates on the campaign trail and barney frank somebody you thought would be safe has bill clinton coming to town. ali. >> all right, guys. thank you to all of you. let alex mooney know this is actually cnn and he's on tv so if he's going to be on tv he could put the phone down and join us next time. >> i'll let him know that. he's kind of a rude character but we'll work on it. >> you guys are hard working. all business with you guys. have a good one. we'll give you another update in an hour. poking fun at serious issues. a living for guys like jon stewart and stephen colbert and also our "wordplay" on the other side. ♪

[ male announcer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal. ♪ the new 2011 cts coupe from cadillac. the new standard of the world.

we wanted to play off the congressional testimony given today by comedian stephen colbert. our word testify. among the definitions is to express a personal conviction. but maybe satire fits better using sarcasm to expose. celebrities have been used for years to bring a more public face to issues and causes being brought before congress. just this week kevin costner was on the hill to talk about cleaning up oil spills. let's be honest. would you be paying attention to the house subcommittee on friday morning's hearing if stefb colbert wasn't there? he is a comedian so there were questions about whether he would be taken seriously. about a comedian or satirist can poke fun at power to shine light on the progress basketball in this case immigration or farming labor. let's not forget who works down the hall, al franken, comedian

elected as senator from minnesota. an 11-year-old boy brutally beaten up. why? because he's a cheerleader. i'll talk about him and bullying in my "xyz." when i use expedia, my friends at work think there's more than one "me." ...because on our trips, i always get there faster. see, expedia lets me mix and match airlines. so i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. with a little help from expedia, my friends will think i can be everywhere at once.

where you book matters. expedia.

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. time now for the "xyz." i want to tell but a very special, very brave young man. 11-year-old tyler wilson from findley, ohio. two of his classmates are now facing assault charges for allegedly jumping the sixth grader and beating him up? why? tyler says because he's a cheerleader. he joined a youth cheerleading squad this summer. he has no intention of quitting. he says he feels bad that am so of his classmates can't accept him for who he is but says if i want to be a cheerleader, i'm going to be a cheerleader.

good for you. your story is an inspiration for anyone pursuing dreams and aspirations and staying true to themselves. bullying doesn't just have physical effects. it can stifle someone's drive, inspiration and self worth. it can force them to close the door on what they want to do and who they want to be. so tyler, you keep cheering and i hope your community will cheer for you too. you've heard the phrase it takes a village. it takes a community to stop the epidemic of bullying. parents, teachers, kids, until they all stand together and say we're not going to toll rate this any longer, until they say every person in our community must be respected and encouraged and loved and until they say enough is enough, until they say these words and put them into action their community will remain a breeding ground for bullies. bullies thrive on isolation and isolating victims making them feel helpless and feel no one will help them. that hurts far more than punches and kicks. it takes one bully to knock someone down and a community to lift them up. thank you, tyler,